.@MAdryaelTong raised some important ethical questions about how we should act to slow the spread of #CoronavirusOutbreak. Since I teach applied ethics, I'm going to try to help.
To start: ethics = the study of what we should do and why, or how we should be and why.
Applied ethics = putting that study into practice in our lives.
We are always making choices with consequences for ourselves and others, and those choices may not always align with what we think of as our ethical values. That's why applied ethics matters. It helps align our actions with our values.
Depending on which ethical system you use, you may come out with a different decision about what's an ethical action.
.@Wright_S_Lucas asked how we should get food, now that we must stay home. Staying home means we decrease the opportunity for #COVID19 to spread. But having food is vital to staying alive, and selling food is vital to economic survival for stores & restaurants. What's ethical?
There are lots of goods to balance. The ethical view most Americans are familiar with is utilitarian: what does the greatest good for the greatest #? Mr. Spock said it best & showed the obvious drawback: someone gets hurt while others are OK.
This is what lots of people have been objecting to: it does a lot of good for those who can stay home to do so, but obviously it's not good for those we depend on to staff the grocery stores & hospitals. Unfortunately, our society is essentially set up on a utilitarian framework.
And it's a pretty skewed utilitarian framework at that--the greatest number often are not even the ones benefiting--but that's for another time.
So we look at the options available to us, all less than ideal--because almost any time we have to make a decision, there is no perfectly ethical option.
Option 1: get a time machine, go back a few months, and put aside a pantry full of food. Crap, that's not going to work.
Option 2: go to the store or restaurant in person and buy my food. Con: I'm putting myself at risk of getting the virus & transmitting it to others (utilitarians say NO!). Pro: I'm not harming anyone else for my own benefit (deontologists say yeah!), BUT ...
would I really want everyone doing this, or am I just making this exception for myself? Deontologists wouldn't like that. (You may remember deontologists from such places as #TheGoodPlace.)
Given what we know from the CDC about the need for #SocialDistancing, no, we wouldn't want everyone doing that.
Deontology, Christian ethics, Jewish ethics, and probably lots of other frameworks agree that every human is inherently valuable. I'm going to go with that as a guiding principle here. If you object, sorry.
(actually #NotSorry)
So our goal here is to maximize the ways we can honor others' inherent value as well as our own by 1) protecting everyone's life and health as much as possible & 2) protecting everyone's livelihood as much as possible.
Door Dash etc. are apparently offering "contactless" delivery options now. Clearly not completely contactless--humans touched the food while cooking & packing it, humans entered the restaurant to pick it up. But lacking the time machine option, this is OK.
washingtonpost.com/news/voracious…
washingtonpost.com/news/voracious…
But if I have to order food one way or another, I cause less harm by placing a ginormous grocery order for pickup or delivery and then cooking for myself at home. NB: I hate cooking. I have no illusions about how much this sucks.
I've been hearing from city Angelenos that the store shelves are bare. I shopped at a Trader Joe's and an Aldi mid-last-week in the Valley and it was a fairly normal scene. They don't offer delivery, AFAIK, but...
if you go further out from your neighborhood (in your electric car powered by solar panels 😄) maybe you can safely do your socially distant shopping yourself.
So my long-winded answer to that question is: get restaurant delivery if it's an emergency, and place a grocery pickup or delivery order so you can cook for yourself going forward so fewer people have to be involved.
But @MAdryaelTong raised a question that makes me rethink that: what if I want to support local businesses but I'm concerned that by doing so, I'll increase the spread of the virus?
I.e., what if the only stores offering grocery pickup or delivery aren't local businesses?
I.e., what if the only stores offering grocery pickup or delivery aren't local businesses?
We've been urged by various media outlets to buy gift cards from local businesses even though we might not be able to contribute to foot traffic. I double-checked whether this is actually helpful with my aunt who runs a BBB chapter. She said yes, it gives them cash flow...
So that would be my official ethicist advice. If there's a place you'd shop anyway, buy the gift card and go in later to get the item. If there's a more-local grocery store where you can place your order, do that.
And if you have to shop at the mega-conglomerate chain to get food, don't beat yourself up about it. You didn't choose this situation.
So much for shopping. What about helping each other out in non-commercial settings? How much contact can and should we have with each other outside our own households?
This is where the care ethics framework is helpful. Care ethics foregrounds your primary relationships. Your first priority goes to the people you care for and those who care for you.
The Jewish concept of tzedakah works sort of like this, too. You give first to the needy who are closest to you.
Another important Jewish principle here is that you can't endanger your own life. Or anyone else's. It's called pikuach nefesh, once adorably mistyped as "Pikachu Nefesh" by a student. 
What can you do for those who need you that will not endanger your own health or life?
People in your own household will take precedence. For others, things you can do while still #SocialDistancing would be the highest priority. Is there a way to run errands for an elder who must stay home where you both can remain as contactless as possible?
If you are not in a high-risk group, walking your own dog while staying 6 feet away from others seems fine, and taking a homebound neighbor's dog as well--maybe using your own leash, which you detach before returning the dog.
One last specific situation that was raised was about going to medical appointments. For that, I would ask the physician's office. Me, I have an appointment scheduled for next week that took me 3 months to get & I'm going to ask for a phone call rather than a visit.
If you think of other specific situations you'd like feedback about, LMK. I'm just sitting around at home trying to keep my kids and dogs from destroying stuff.
I think I screwed up this thread thing; the next installment is this:
